Page 226 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

simple terms I asked “What’s in it for me? What can you give me that would
help persuade a Court you deserve a lesser dose of clink?”

I said whatever he gave me by way of information, I had no control over the
ultimate decision, but if the information was good enough, it would hopefully
be taken into account at his sentencing. When caught ‘ban-to-rights’ Ginger
always pleaded guilty so that at least would o in his favour. He had nothing
to lose and only freedom to gain, so provided he could live with informing on
his fellow villains, it looked like a no brainer to me.

He agreed to provide me with some information as a taster and provided his
identity was protected and he never looked likely to be exposed, he would
add more to the pot each time.

Cars, motorbikes, bikes and their respective parts were his game, so that’s
where he started. I said that we couldn’t exchange information in any detail
like this, so I arranged to have him locked up for an offence he hadn’t
committed so that it appeared to the outside world of villainy we were just
doing our investigative job.

A day or so later, I’d had him properly registered as an informant under the
pseudonym ‘Ginger’. This protected me against any false accusations of
impropriety and collusion with suspects.

On a date we agreed, he surrendered himself on the spoof chare and I was
able to take more details from him. In fact I had to slow him down so I could
be sure we could set up the number of sting operations based on his
information.

He supplied me names and addresses of active villains where he knew stolen
ear was being stored. He also told me to expect to pull some illicit substances
in from the aids as some of these people were into the supply of drugs in the
local area.

This sort of sting operation involving an informant, had to be approved by the
Detective Superintendent, so I had to prepare a brief of all the suspects and
anticipated offences.
The sting was approved and teams of officers were designated suspects,
actions and desired outcomes. The operation yielded six arrests, with a haul
of stolen property and a small amount of low-class drugs. Not the biggest of
operations but a pleasing result with more villains off the street for a while and
property back with its rightful owners. Ginger had to be arrested more for his
protection than anything else and would have earned an Oscar for the part
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he played berating me in front of his cohorts when he was released without
sufficient evidence to proceed.